As I mentioned in that last note TWO GALLANTS are playing our first show in two years on Saturday April 23, 2011 at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. Tickets go on sale this Saturday at http:/www.stubmatic.com/bottomofthehill. ALL AGES. You can also join us at the brand new www.facebook.com/twogallants page as well as check out an old live video we put up on twogallants.com

So I have been meaning to write for a while to let you know what happened on tour and since. Admittedly, I’ve had a little difficulty getting around to it. Not just because of physical limitations–although therapy has been consuming practically every free moment I have left. I suppose it’s been more of a mental block. A form of conscious suppression. As any one can imagine its not exactly something that I take pleasure in reliving. I tried in December and got half way through it. I’ll post that in a bit but first here’s a brief overview:

The tour with the Felice Brothers ended in Ohio and after 2 months away we were understandably a little desperate to get home. Jen flew out early the next morning to join another tour in Europe and Omar, Matt, and I started the 2500 mile drive home. We tried to do it in one go, stopping only for gas and coffee but as many of you know the drive ended a little prematurely on an embanked divider of a barren stretch of highway 80 near Rawlins, Wyoming. The sun had just come up over the when we drove over black ice, slid into the embankment and flipped multiple times, leaving Omar with a broken finger, a fractured vertebrae and, as you can see by the pictures, the extreme fortune of not being paralyzed. I was in the back, asleep on one of the benches and got out with a severely dislocated shoulder, 80-90% damage to my axillary nerve, the subscapular nerves, and other offshoots of the Brachial Plexus. Matt, in what in my opinion can only be attributed to his casual fatalism, walked away with a small cut on his hand. As you can see from the pictures, the van which I bought about a month before tour, will never ride again.

Everyone was extremely kind to us at the Memorial Hospital of Carbon County in Rawlins, WY. Of the 8,000 people in that town two of them turned out to be friends of friends of friends who caught wind of our accident and went far beyond what could be expected of practical strangers in helping us out. They brought us food, drinks, entertainment, let Matt sleep at their house two nights, and after finally being released from the hospital, drove us the two hours to the closest airport. Our gear is currently still in their basement. So after that two hour drive to Rock Springs, WY, an extremely turbulent flight over the Rockies into Salt Lake City, 7 hours waiting in the SLC Airport only to find out that our flight was delayed until the next morning, we snuck onto a flight to Sacramento, which touched down around midnight where Omar’s Dad went way out of his way to pick us up, drive us back to the city, and likely not return to his own home in the east bay until some time early the next morning. Somehow we made it home in time for Thanksgiving. Needless to say, we had plenty of thanks to give.

From complete strangers on the side of highway 80 to the friends and family who have helped us throughout our recovery, we are extremely grateful. On top of those already mentioned I would like to thank Sadie Short for creating a band aid site to help raise funds to pay off some of our bills, which we continue to accrue; and my close friends and family for for being so supportive.

I would like to thank Omar, Matt, Jen, Ephriam, and Moses for their invaluable contributions to this past tour. I would also like to thank everyone who came out to see us across the country, and everyone who has sent us wishes towards a speedy recovery. Your presence has been felt.

I’ve only picked up a guitar once or twice since that last show in Columbus. Most of the damage was to my rotator cuff which makes reaching the length of the neck a little challenging. Partially for that reason and others, this so called “solo” project is going to be on hold for a little while. My other band TWO GALLANTS is planning a show in SF in April and a few little tours this summer. So stay tuned for that. Be good to yourselves and one another.

If you are in NYC, catch the band tonight at the Delancey for the Saddle Creek / Wichita night at CMJ. AHS closes it out at 12:30am. Here is a shot of the band from the KEXP session this morning. More pics HERE.

You can now get WE LIVE ON CLIFFS in the US at iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody as well as there are deluxe packages available to anyone / anywhere at Saddle Creek. And it should be available at most independent record stores in the US too!

Tune into http://www.bamm.tv/live this Friday at 8pm PST to watch Adam and the band perform in their studio for a live webcast from San Francisco + interview. Share this on Facebook and be entered to win 2 passes to attend + free mp3 download of WE LIVE ON CLIFFS. Send a screenshot to info@adamhaworthstephens.com.

You can also RE-TWEET the below message and be entered to win the contest as well! Re-tweet: “SF Bay Area, retweet 2 win passes to attend Adam Haworth Stephens live webcast on 9/24 at bamm.tv + get free download of WE LIVE ON CLIFFS #adamhaworthcontest”

At long last the release of We Live On Cliffs is now available for PRE-ORDER! It is not in stores until SEPTEMBER 28, but if you order from SADDLE CREEK we will ship it out to you on SEPTEMBER 14! On SEPTEMBER 6 you will receive a link to stream the album in its entirety. On SEPTEMBER 14, you will receive a download code to download the album! We are also offering a few extra items like an exclusive t-shirt and a limited edition silkscreened 12×12 poster some stickers, buttons, etc.

Here is the tracklisting and album cover:

WE LIVE ON CLIFFS
1. Praises In Your Name
2. Second Mind
3. With Vengeance Come
4. Heights of the Diamond
5. The Cities That You’ve Burned
6. Elderwoods
7. Southern Lights
8. Angelina
9. Everyday I Fall